Friday Night Lights - Touchdown on Friday

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Friday Night Lights - Touchdown on Friday
Original title Friday Night Lights
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2004
length 113 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Peter Berg ,
Josh Godfather
script David Aaron Cohen ,
Peter Berg
production Brian Grazer
music Brian Reitzell ,
Explosions in the Sky ,
David Torn
camera Tobias A. Schliessler
cut Gabrielle Fasulo ,
Colby Parker junior ,
David Rosenbloom
occupation

Friday Night Lights - Touchdown on Friday (Original title: Friday Night Lights ) is an American sports drama from 2004 . Directed by Peter Berg and Josh Pate , the script was written by David Aaron Cohen and Peter Berg based on the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by Buzz Bissinger .

action

The film is set in 1988 in the small town of Odessa , in the west of the American state of Texas . There's a lot of pressure on the players on the local high school football team , the Permian Panthers (called "Mojo" by fans), under coach Gary Gaines. The goal is to win the Texas State Championship, if possible even unbeaten. The entire place seems to have dedicated itself to this goal.

The team's hope is the player with the number 45, James "Boobie" Miles. During the opening training for the new season, his uncle LV describes him as a near-perfect football player who has all the qualities necessary to make it far in the sport. Since a football team doesn't just consist of one player, the other players who are important for the film quickly emerge as well. Quarterback Mike Winchell, who lovingly cares for his mother, Don "Fumble" Billingsley, who has a very strained relationship with his father Charles - an alcoholic and local football legend - the very introspective Ivory "Preacher Man" Christian, Defender Brian "Chavo" Chavez and Boobie Miles substitute substitute Chris "Wasserfloh" Comer, who would like to step out of the overpowering shadow of Boobie, if only to impress his girlfriend.

The first game of the season is going exactly according to plan. Boobie Miles seems unstoppable and gives his team a solid head start. To spare him, Coach Gaines takes him out of the game and wants to bring Comer instead. However, Comer cannot find his helmet. So Gaines sends Boobie, who didn't want to go out anyway, back to the field. Then the unbelievable happens: Boobie is tackled by two opponents and seriously injured his knee, which is largely acknowledged by the residents of the city with insult and shame for Gaines.

Apparently the shock is very deep, because the next game is lost without a sound. Over time, however, the guys around Winchell, Billingsley, Christian, Chavez and Comer (he becomes a worthy replacement for Miles) find each other again and the next games can be won.

Then, as some listeners on the local radio station said, the first real test awaits the Permian Panthers players against the Midland Lee team. If the Panthers win this game, they would certainly be in the playoffs for the Texas State Championship, but if they lose, there would be a coin toss due to a tie, which would decide the weal and woe of three teams. Boobie ignored the explicit medical advice (a multiple ligament tear in his left knee was found in the Midland hospital) to cure his injury and returned to the game with the statement that he felt ready and could play. He pays for this statement at the end of his "career" with the Panthers, the game is lost and the coin toss mentioned above must decide how the Panthers will continue this season. Fortuna's whims are fortunate enough for the Panthers, but it now also shows who it will be up against in a possible final, the Dallas Carter Cowboys team. It is described as a " monster of a team" and the pictures shown prove it right.

As expected, both teams prevail until the final.

Even in the run-up to this game, there are quarrels between those responsible for the Panthers and the Cowboys. For the time being, for example, you cannot agree on a venue or the number of black and white referees. The Cowboys coach would prefer a home game and an all-black referee selection, as his team comes from an exclusively black district. They finally agree on a neutral location (the Astrodome in Houston ) and a mixed selection of referees consisting of black and white referees in equal parts.

At the beginning of the game, the physically superior players from Dallas Carter roll over the team around Coach Gaines. It looks like the Panthers are losing a lot. At half-time, the coach tells his team that perfection is always expected from them. For him, however, perfection would not mean winning, but rather that every player could proudly say that they gave their all. This led to an exchange of blows, which, despite a self-sacrificing fight, ended in a narrow defeat for the Panthers.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on October 8, 2004 that the film demonstrates the power with which sport can draw viewers in. Billy Bob Thornton delivers a "great performance" with "bandwidth" and the right notes.

The lexicon of international films wrote that the film offered a "commercial sports success story that tried to create a 1980s feeling with a washed-out" look " .

The magazine TV Spielfilm 6/2008 wrote that the “gripping, emotional drama” was “grim and true” .

Awards

The film was nominated for Best Drama for the Teen Choice Award and for the Young Artist Award in 2005. In 2005 he received the ESPY Award for best sports film ; In 2005 it won the AFI Film Award as Film of the Year .

Tim McGraw was nominated for the MTV Movie Award in 2005. The screenwriters were nominated for the USC Scripter Award in 2005.

backgrounds

The film was shot in Houston , Odessa, and various other locations in Texas . A shot of the trailer was filmed in Kansas . Production costs were estimated at 30 million US dollars . The film grossed approximately $ 61.2 million in US cinemas. In some countries such as Argentina , Germany , Hungary and Italy the film was released directly on video or DVD.

The film inspired a television series of the same name produced by the National Broadcasting Company and broadcast from October 2006.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Film review by Roger Ebert, accessed March 28, 2008
  2. ↑ Friday Night Lights - Touchdown on Friday in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed on March 28, 2008
  3. ↑ TV Spielfilm 6/2008, page 212
  4. ↑ Filming locations for Friday Night Lights, accessed March 28, 2008
  5. ↑ Box office results for Friday Night Lights, accessed March 28, 2008
  6. ↑ Friday Night Lights premiere dates, accessed March 28, 2008